Another Tarantino lookalike indie filmed in thirteen
days
for $7,300,
and it sure gets its money's worth for the effort. The
filmmaker has
come
up with a crime-thriller spoof done at a
hyper-frenetic pace that is as
good if not better than most Hollywood high-budget
action films of this
type. Joe Carnahan is both star and director playing a
fat, sleazy,
fast-talking
used-car salesman named Sid French whose partner Bob
Melba (Leis) in
the
Bob & Sid's Auto Emporium, is almost as sleazy as
he is but who is
only more practical-minded. Faced with an eviction
notice, their car
lot
located in the hinterlands of Needles, California has
only unsellable
gas
guzzling cars on their lot and the boys are getting
desperate to get
their
hands on some sell-able cars.

The opening scene is a contemptuous look at the
salesman
trying to
hustle their customers. Their comedy routine runs
through every bit of
disdain they have for their customers and the
integrity of their
profession.
But it went on for too long and the fun subsided and
soon became
grating
just like a commercial that keeps going on.

But the quick pace of the film got things moving
briskly
again and
with the use of quirky titled chapters to each little
skit, it kept the
film imbued with a sense of urgency. One such chapter
was titled
"Coldblooded
Hotheads," just to give you an idea at what the film
was driving at.

Their former boss and now competitor, Danny Woo
(Harlan),
whom Bob
& Sid absolutely despise, asks the boys to do him
a favor -- the
IRS
is doing an audit on his business and would they say
nice things about
him to their investigators and in turn he will return
the favor with a
favor. The boys agree, after bad-mouthing him to each
other and telling
about all the crooked things he has done.

Meanwhile Bob & Sid press their car broker to
get them
cars other
than Gremlins and Pintos to sell, and he comes by
their lot with an
offer
that they can't refuse but are very suspicious of.
It's a vintage
Pontiac
Le Mans burgundy convertible that will soon be dropped
off to them and
they will be paid $250,000 if they allow it to sit on
the lot for two
days
without trying to sell it or even touch it. They are
told the trunk is
wired to explode if they open it and there will be
surveillance people
watching them at all times, armed with shotguns to
kill them if they
try
to weasel out of the deal.

The car has a history to it, as the FBI is aware
that a
driver of
that car was killed by carjackers and they suspect a
drug smuggling
operation
going on involving the stolen car.

Sid talks his partner into extorting $500,000 ransom
for
the car
from the one's phoning them. But before they can bring
the car to a
mechanic
for inspection, a redneck is shooting at them.

The film comes to its slick ending after a number of
preposterous
twists, as the film winds its way to its final payoff.
The immoral main
characters end up talking about what is right and
wrong with themselves
and the world they live in, which adds a nice touch of
absurdity to the
already absurd story.

The film had energy, a ready made metaphor in the
Pontiac
and in
the used-car lot, a semi-plausible plot, some promise
in the
filmmaker's
ability to tell a story, some choppy dialogue that
could be amusing at
times, and enough nerve to fill the screen with
surprises from the
actors
who at times improvised and got by with it.